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Probably about time a slow down happened. I own a Moto G 3rd Gen. Swift, waterproof, stong-glass, bloat-free, removable battery, memory-upgradable, £150. Does

Probably about time a slow down happened. I own a Moto G 3rd Gen. Swift, waterproof, stong-glass, bloat-free, removable battery, memory-upgradable, £150. Does the job I need it to do and, I'd imagine, the job most others need also. (I don't work for Moto, nor even remotely related to them). I've been wondering what on earth iPhone and Sammy users are doing with their £400-£600 modern icon-ophones Are people just in a trance? (This from a renowned gadget freak who used to trade in smartphones every 3 months)

martinald 11y ago
I'm exactly the same. I have a moto x play (mainly for the much bigger battery). £200ish when I bought it. Works great, really happy with it. I've owned every model of the iPhone (some twice for loss/damage) up until the 6. The battery life just isn't acceptable for me (i'm a heavy user, granted, but apple hasn't made any improvements in that area for a long time - whatever power savings they've done has been put into making the device thinner). And, the phone does exactly what I need for 1/3rd the cost. Plus I don't have to pay another £100+ for a decent amount of storage. I think Apple (and other high end smartphones) are going to be really stuck with this. Even if they don't switch to Android, people just aren't going to switch phones as much as they did before. They don't offer anything compelling. Same problem has happened with PC/Mac/iPad.
simonh 11y ago
Given the value I've got out of my iPhones I done see them as being expensive. Heck, my daughter is still using my 3GS. The length and depth of support, consistent hardware and software quality, app availability and longevity of the devices have been excellent, so I've never had any reason to switch to anything else. Every year has been touted as the time Android catches up, but it just vever happens. Having said that the most recent Galaxy's and the Moto G seem like good options. But I'm still concerned about software updates and app quality and availability. Maybe when my 3GS packs in, a Moto G or something like it might be in my daughters future, but it's just as likely she'll inherit another of our hand-me-down iPhones.
blinkingled 11y ago
Yeah, I would say people haven't gotten enough time to sense that a $200 phone beats the pants off of a $750 one if you consider price, battery life and what it does objectively. Just a year or so ago $200 phones could be dinged in some way or the other - bad camera, bad battery life, low durability, slower performance etc. I wonder how planned obsolescence plays into this though. If every two years your phone is going to become dog slow or is not getting updates anymore you will have to upgrade. Good old days of Windows where you could run the same hardware for 3 different OS releases and upgrade the CPU/GPU for the 4th one! :(
- thaumasiotes 11y ago
  I have a Nexus 4 which is experiencing battery swelling. Apparently that's a common problem for them. I don't think, though, that it's an example of "planned obsolescence"... I suspect that phone performance multiple years out just isn't a design consideration, overlooked in a way similar to what was going on in the stylized "real estate prices can't drop" belief model. When it's not considered, it's pretty likely to be terrible. When people start keeping their phones for several years, they'll get upset about aging issues, and graceful aging will become a design consideration.
  - blinkingled 11y ago
    Yeah for the prices they are selling the Nexus/Moto G type devices it makes somewhat sense that durability beyond 2 years wasn't their design concern. Still leaves open the part about software updates and slowdowns due to updates. Apple for e.g. has better hardware quality than most but the slow downs due to major OS updates and withholding features from older devices definitely helps them with people upgrading every two years.
sumedh 11y ago
> Sammy users are doing with their £400-£600 modern icon-ophones Nothing much but the camera was a nice upgrade from my moto g 2nd gen.

martinald 11y ago

I'm exactly the same. I have a moto x play (mainly for the much bigger battery). £200ish when I bought it. Works great, really happy with it. I've owned every model of the iPhone (some twice for loss/damage) up until the 6. The battery life just isn't acceptable for me (i'm a heavy user, granted, but apple hasn't made any improvements in that area for a long time - whatever power savings they've done has been put into making the device thinner). And, the phone does exactly what I need for 1/3rd the cost. Plus I don't have to pay another £100+ for a decent amount of storage. I think Apple (and other high end smartphones) are going to be really stuck with this. Even if they don't switch to Android, people just aren't going to switch phones as much as they did before. They don't offer anything compelling. Same problem has happened with PC/Mac/iPad.

simonh 11y ago

Given the value I've got out of my iPhones I done see them as being expensive. Heck, my daughter is still using my 3GS. The length and depth of support, consistent hardware and software quality, app availability and longevity of the devices have been excellent, so I've never had any reason to switch to anything else. Every year has been touted as the time Android catches up, but it just vever happens. Having said that the most recent Galaxy's and the Moto G seem like good options. But I'm still concerned about software updates and app quality and availability. Maybe when my 3GS packs in, a Moto G or something like it might be in my daughters future, but it's just as likely she'll inherit another of our hand-me-down iPhones.

blinkingled 11y ago

Yeah, I would say people haven't gotten enough time to sense that a $200 phone beats the pants off of a $750 one if you consider price, battery life and what it does objectively. Just a year or so ago $200 phones could be dinged in some way or the other - bad camera, bad battery life, low durability, slower performance etc. I wonder how planned obsolescence plays into this though. If every two years your phone is going to become dog slow or is not getting updates anymore you will have to upgrade. Good old days of Windows where you could run the same hardware for 3 different OS releases and upgrade the CPU/GPU for the 4th one! :(

thaumasiotes 11y ago
I have a Nexus 4 which is experiencing battery swelling. Apparently that's a common problem for them. I don't think, though, that it's an example of "planned obsolescence"... I suspect that phone performance multiple years out just isn't a design consideration, overlooked in a way similar to what was going on in the stylized "real estate prices can't drop" belief model. When it's not considered, it's pretty likely to be terrible. When people start keeping their phones for several years, they'll get upset about aging issues, and graceful aging will become a design consideration.
- blinkingled 11y ago
  Yeah for the prices they are selling the Nexus/Moto G type devices it makes somewhat sense that durability beyond 2 years wasn't their design concern. Still leaves open the part about software updates and slowdowns due to updates. Apple for e.g. has better hardware quality than most but the slow downs due to major OS updates and withholding features from older devices definitely helps them with people upgrading every two years.

sumedh 11y ago

> Sammy users are doing with their £400-£600 modern icon-ophones Nothing much but the camera was a nice upgrade from my moto g 2nd gen.